Rock icon Eric Clapton lived out his childhood dreams on Thursday when he joined jazz star Wynton Marsalis onstage for a special benefit show in New York.

The guitarist was a guest performer at the Lincoln Center Orchestra event, teaming up with Marsalis and his band to play a series of jazz standards.

And Clapton revealed the gig fulfilled one of his long held ambitions.

He says, "I've never done anything like this in my life before... I wanted to be in a jazz band as a kid, but the guitar took me away."

Clapton and Marsalis also gave one of the rocker's biggest hits a musical makeover...

African American musicians in today's music world are not merely just entertainers, but individuals of many facets. Showcased below are a few that we think, with the help of the success of their music careers, are the top 10 influential African American musicians in music today. African American musicians in today's music world are not merely just entertainers, but individuals of many facets. Showcased below are a few that we think, with the help of the success of their music careers, are the top 10 influential African American musicians in music today.

Beyonce Knowles

Beyonce Knowle...

"I quit drugs, smoking and drinking, so I'm basically a f---ing monk now. I don't even like my coffee that hot." Motley Crue star Nikki Sixx insists he's nothing like the wildman he once was.

"I was a bike courier for one day. I was in a drug-treatment program and they made me ride a bike in Manhattan, delivering packages. That s--t was scary." 50 Cent on his life before rap success.

"I never said I was gonna become the poster boy for some environmentalist group but it's not like I'm not learning anything from this show. I'm definitely about to start recycling." Ludacris goes gre...

The event was simply billed as "Willie Nelson Sings the Blues," but the historic two-night stand on January 12 and 13, 2007 at Jazz at Lincoln Center was far more than that. Call it a summit meeting between two American icons, Willie Nelson & Wynton Marsalis, two of the most significant figures in modern-day country and jazz, who discovered common ground in their love for jazz standards and the blues. Their performance stirred the sounds of New Orleans, Nashville, Austin and New York City into a brilliantly programmed mix that was equal parts down-home and cosmopolitan, with plenty of swing...

Barkley. Lebron. Shaq. Kobe. And of course, His Airness, Jordan. Sound familiar?

John McLendon. Clarence "Big House" Gaines. Bob Love. Earl Lloyd. John Chaney. Who?

They're not as familiar to most of us. Many people have never heard of them at all. However, these men paved the way over a very rocky road for the stars we are on a one-name basis with today. Their stories, as well as the stories of other basketball greats, are highlighted in the upcoming ESPN special "Black Magic," a four-hour, two-part film that will be shown on Sunday, March 16th and Monday, March 17th at 8p.m. CS...

For New Orleans native Tut~Burks the sound of his alto-saxophone is a melodic voice of confidence from the Dixie landscape that pushes up out of the lungs of the talented musician.

Leaving New Orleans months before Hurricane Katrina to pursue a music career in New York City could be seen as a sign of fate, but it could just be luck. What's certain is that musically he's right on time.

Under the imprint of his Mohy Soundz label, Tut sets himself as a polished musician who has honed much of his skill from the lessons taught by jazz specialist Edward Jordan, Alvin Batiste and Wynto...

Happy Birthday to jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis (1944), Belgian martial arts actor Jean-Claude Van Damme (1960), Czech tennis star Martina Navratilova (1956), Indian actor Om Puri (1950), Mork & Mindy actress Pam Dawber (1951), novelist Terry McMillan (1951), Lord of the Rings composer Howard Shore (1946), football player/coach Mike Ditka (1939), Everybody Loves Raymond actor Peter Boyle (1935), Patton portrayer George C. Scott (1927; d. 1999), German actor Klaus Kinski (1926; d. 1991), and rock 'n' roller Chuck Berry (1926).

In addition to The War soundtrack album - an eclectic mix of vintage era jazz, pop singers of the time, contemporary classical recordings, plus three previously unreleased performances by Wynton Marsalis and a previously unreleased performance by Norah Jones - Legacy will also issue three companion collections:

-Sentimental Journey: Hits From The Second World War: 20 tracks starring Frank Sinatra, the Mills Brothers, and the orchestras of Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, Tommy Dorsey, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Harry James, Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw, Teddy Wilson, and others, with vo...

Sundance Channel today unveiled the six pairings set to appear during the third season of the Sundance Channel original television series "Iconoclasts." Each hour-long episode of the six- part series features two leading innovators from different fields who come together to discuss their passions and creative processes.

"Iconoclasts" is produced by @radical.media and directed by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky (the filmmakers behind Metallica: Some Kind of Monster).

Participants for Season Three are: actor/filmmaker Sean Penn and author/adventurer Jon Krakauer; singer/songwriter...

Rapper 50 Cent is a toyboy again, if reports he's dating 46-year-old actress Victoria Rowell are to be believed. Rowell, of The Young & The Restless, fell for the 31-year-old musician on the set of military drama Home of The Brave, according to In Touch Weekly, and the couple has been an item ever since.

Rowell, who has an 11-year-old son by ex-boyfriend Wynton Marsalis, isn't the first famous older woman 50 Cent has been involved with - he previously dated Vivica A. Fox, 42.

A pal tells the publication, "Victoria loves the edge that 50 Cent has."

-Victoria Rowell Pictures...

The members of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Genesis And Led Zeppelin all reunited to pay tribute to late music mogul Ahmet Ertegun in New York on Tuesday night. Neil Young performed Helplessly Hoping with David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash before bringing guests to tears with a duet of Buffalo Springfield hit Mr. Soul with Nash, while the reformed Genesis played Follow You, Follow Me.

Phil Collins also played his In The Air Tonight hit on piano - without the song's famous drum explosion, which Atlantic Records boss Ertegun once insisted he added. The members of Led Zeppelin ...

Jazz star Wynton Marsalis has launched a scathing attack on some of the biggest names in hip-hop - claiming the musical genre debases African-American culture. Using rap mogul 50 Cent and Ludacris as an example, Marsalis - widely regarded as one of the best jazz musicians of modern times - claims rappers insult their own people with the language they use, the clothes they wear and the message they give out.

He says, "I call it ghetto minstrelsy. Old school minstrels used to say they were 'real darkies from the real plantation'. Hip-hop substitutes the

plantation for the streets. No...

Rare 1940s Music Videos Of Legendary Jazz, Swing, And Big Band Artists Unearthed And Restored In "Soundies: A Musical History"

Before MTV, there were 'Soundies.' First appearing in 1941, these three-minute "music videos" played in famous nightclubs and restaurants everywhere, featuring many of the legendary musicians of that era and of all time. For the price of 10 cents, audiences enjoyed artists such as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Louis Jordan, Louis Armstrong and Cab Calloway all viewed through a special machine called a 'Panoram,' or movie jukebox. Not only were these unique class...

Happy Birthday to jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis (1944), Belgian martial arts actor Jean-Claude Van Damme (1960), Czech tennis star Martina Navratilova (1956), Indian actor Om Puri (1950), Mork & Mindy actress Pam Dawber (1951), author Terry McMillan (1951), Lord of the Rings composer Howard Shore (1946), football player/coach Mike Ditka (1939), Everybody Loves Raymond actor Peter Boyle (1935), Patton portrayer George C. Scott (1927; d. 1999), German actor Klaus Kinski (1926; d. 1991), and rock 'n' roller Chuck Berry (1926).

Happy Birthday to The Cardigans guitarist Peter Svensson (1974), singer Nonchalant (1973), Sponge bassist Tim Cross (1966), actor Vincent Spano (1962), actress Erin Moran (1961), jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis (1961), martial artist/actor Jean-Claude Van Damme (1960), actress Pam Dawber (1951), actor Joe Morton (1947), actor Peter Boyle (1935), singer/guitarist Chuck Berry (1926).